ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has demanded adequate funds from the federal government for large-scale production of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and their storage for 2023 general elections. The ECP had written a letter to the government, seeking funds and storage facilities.
More or less 800,000 EVMs will be produced for the next general elections. In its letter to the federal government, the ECP also demanded a warehouse to store EVMs in a secure place.
Earlier this week, the federal cabinet formed a ministerial committee to coordinate with the election commission to ensure implementation of the recent legislation on electoral reforms.
At a post-cabinet meeting press conference, the information minister announced that the next general elections would surely be held through EVMs and that overseas Pakistanis would be able to cast their votes.
A few days ago, the government convened a joint sitting of Parliament, which passed dozens of treasury bills, including the ones about the use of EVMs in the elections and the right to vote to the Pakistanis living abroad.
A ministerial committee – comprising Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Babar Awan, Railways Minister Azam Swati, Science and Technology Minister Shibli Faraz, Information Technology Minister Aminul Haq and Attorney-General Khalid Jawed Khan — had been formed which will liaise with the ECP to ensure implementation of the recently passed laws. The committee will finalise all the issues pertaining to the use of the EVMs in the next election such as cost, numbers of machines and others.
